Project information

Safeguarding young lives after Nepal earthquake

Helping some of the poorest and most vulnerable children and young earthquake victims to stay with their families and continue their education, thereby avoiding the risk of ending up in child labour or being trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation

Charity information: Kidasha

Need

Many children living in poverty do not go to school because some 1) are forced to work to supplement family income 2) parents cannot afford uniforms and books 3) must stay at home to do domestic work and care for younger siblings 4) leave home due to violence and abuse within the family. In the aftermath of the quake, these barriers are exacerbated due to the pressure on the poorest families who have even fewer resources than before and who mainstream aid often fails to reach.

Solution

We will provide a package of tailored support to the poorest and most vulnerable families (including counselling, advice, psychosocial support, guidance to access other services and the provision of small financial grants) to help them rebuild their homes and livelihoods and recover some semblance of normality and independence. By so doing we will help families to stay together and children to remain in school and avoid the risks of street living and child labour.

Aim 1

To enable poor migrant families to find accommodation and sources of income as soon as possible

Activities

» Identifying vulnerable families through existing networks in slums and urban poor areas » Providing business and vocational training to parents and adolescents » Providing small grants to help set-up new accommodation and/or to develop livelihood (ncome generating) opportunities

All supported families will be housed such that can care for their children and have a source of income sufficient to meet their basic needs.

Aim 2

To ensure impacted children are able to continue their education with minimal interruption

Activities

» Utlising community outreach workers to help families to enrol children in local government schools » Providing books, uniforms and stationary needed for school and small grants to cover any extra tuition fees often needed to prepare for exams » Providing counselling and group psycho-social support activities to children and mothers showing signs of trauma in the aftermath of the quake

Children from supported families will be regularly attending school and parents will be positively engaging with teachers re their children's progress and learning.

Aim 3

Activities

» Using community outreach workers and parent support groups to increase family awareness of risks » Referring the most vulnerabke families to other mainstream services and support networks » Ensuring effective coordination of info between families and local authorities to ensure at risk children are protected and don’t fall through the net

There will be no instances of children from supported families being reported missing, living away from home or in known labour situations

Impact

By enabling children to stay with their families and go to school, the project will help to minimise the lasting negative impacts of the earthquake in terms of trauma and the resultant risk of longer term behavioural and emotional issues and reduced educational attainment. It will also reduce the risk of children ending up in labour or street living situations with the inherent risk of abuse and exploitation.

Risk

The target population tends to be highly mobile and therefore it can be challenging providing support aimed at longer term rehabilitation. However we have significant experience of working with the poorest migrant communities and have been successful in helping families make more informed decisions about individual migration and family separation. Also there is a risk that aid is politicised, however the project’s specific, well-defined target group will ensure the probability of this is low.

Reporting

Project donors will receive a quarterly email update on the project detailing progress made towards the outcomes as well as the key points of interest about ongoing activities. Case studies on selected beneficiaries will also be written and shared with donors on a periodic basis.

Current Funding / Pledges

Location

Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City, the second largest city in Nepal and a traditional destination for poor migrants from districts which have been most affected by the earthquake.

Beneficiaries

Children from the poorest, most vulnerable families from the most severely impacted areas; who before the quake were already living in chronic poverty. For these families the earthquake and its aftershocks are a stress event that can easily push them over the edge and cause them to take unnecessary risks, e.g. migrating to the City to seek shelter and work and ending up living in urban slums; unwittingly allowing their children to be trafficked into exploitative and abusive labour situations

Why Us?

Our programme team is based in Nepal, has extensive local knowledge and we have supported children and families living in crisis situations in Nepal for nearly 20 years. Since 2004 we have been leading an innovative programme funded by Comic Relief that works with more than 3,000 children living in extremely difficult circumstances. This work has involved diverse elements of family strengthening including counselling, income generation activities and increasing access to mainstream servic